‘I noticed D Gukesh… He was 12 then…’: Magnus Carlsen spills the beans on discovering India No. 1 for the first time

Magnus Carlsen revealed when he first met Indian GM D Gukesh. Gukesh is currently in action at the Tata Steel Masters.

D Gukesh is still in the sole lead at the ongoing 2025 Tata Steel Chess Masters, in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Gukesh is on top of the standings with 8.00 points, followed by R Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov at 7.50 points.

D Gukesh and Magnus Carlsen during a match.

Gukesh is the reigning world chess champion, having defeated Ding Liren in Singapore. Since his win, Gukesh has become probably the most popular chess grandmaster in the world and also has overtaken Arjun Erigaisi to become India No. 1.

When did Magnus Carlsen discover D Gukesh?

Now the 18-year-old has received special praise from Magnus Carlsen, who revealed how he discovered Gukesh. Speaking on the video posted by Take Take Take application, Carlsen claimed that he first saw Gukesh, when he was 12-years-old.

“I noticed Gukesh around the time he became a grandmaster. He was 12 then, one of the youngest grandmasters of all time,” he said.

“You could sense that he had something. He was playing an extremely ambitious kind of chess, which was not quite the same as others. At that time, he did not have the strength to actually sustain that, so he actually lost a lot of games. But I think I drew my game against him, and he was actually better in that game.

“I was thinking, this is a guy who is really trying to play proper ambitious chess. It felt like he definitely had something,” he added.

After the Tata Steel Masters, Gukesh will be participating at the first leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, which will take place in Germany’s Weissenhaus starting from February 7.

Gukesh is the youngest undisputed world champion, the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2750, doing so at the age of 16. He got the grandmaster at the age of 12 and is the third-youngest grandmaster in history. This year, he also received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award from Indian president Droupadi Murmu.